Monday, May 23, 2011

Tragic story, but what's the reality?

The Bryan Stow story is tragic, but are we right to continue to make this tragedy about the fact that this Young father of 2 was beaten because of the jersey he wore?
http://www.support4bryanstow.com/

Bryan Stow was beaten almost near death by two unknown suspects, Opening Day of the L.A. Dodgers game against the San Francisco Giants. If you are an avid fan of the sport or are up on sports rivalries, this is one for the ages. Well, sort of. The battles between North and South California sports teams is something of interests primarily because of the way in which these teams were founded, from swaps by owners etc.
No one believes that anybody going to enjoy America's greatest pastime should ever not be able to walk out on their own. I would like to think that no one would expect this to happen on any day that they are excited to be enjoying something fun. And particularly for this fan Bryan Stow visiting his World Championship Team on their first game of the season against the Dodgers, this was not what he expected either. But I wonder if we are right in our assessment that this senseless act was simply because Stow happened to be in a Giants jersey.
People attack other people for reasons other than just the clothing they are wearing. I recognize that this might be the easiest of assumptions, primarily because 7 weeks after the attack there hadn't still been a mainstream lead (i.e. arrest) in the case. We don't know why the attackers did what they did and if it was in fact because he was in a Giants jersey then I will let this argument go, but I am fearful, that we will continue to pit this attack on the fact that Stow was a Giants fan, when maybe it wasn't just about that. I urge the media to take the language that yes, this was a tragic event, no person should go to an event fearing for their life, and that maybe this was one isolated incident specific to the team Stow associated with, but I think it paints an ugly picture of Dodgers fans and makes people think that because of this one act, that all fans are like this.
I don't know just my thoughts.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

13 Ways of Looking at a Black Man


Hey all:
So my last blog was about the recent word vomit that was Bernard Hopkins against Donovan McNabb and how he was raised. I spoke about the ills of the Black community. One minute we are supportive of the steps one of us takes, but then the next we are spitting hate and calling the upbringing of someone else as a reason to claim them as less authentic to the race. The sad thing is many of us strive for the betterment of the community and we see the rise of the McNabbs or the Hills (Grant Hill) or the Cory Bookers of the world as the place that our community can go. Not in an attempt to be "white" but to be better for ourselves. I am tired of seeing our young Black men being locked up, I am tired of seeing our young Black women continuously being left alone to raise their children, I am tired of having to walk around and second guess whether or not I deserve to be where I am, not for fear of what the "others" will say, but what the Black community will say of my success. There used to be a time when we celebrated the success of "one of our own" and now it seems that we are the first one to stab the knife deep into the back of the "brother or sister" who made it.
I just finished reading Henry Louis Gates " 13 Ways of Looking at a Black Man." This book is a collection of interviews and anecdotes and stories about Black Men:
1. James Baldwin
2. Albert Murray
3. Bill T. Jones
4. Colin Powell
5. Louis Farrakhan
6. Harry Belafonte
7. Anatole Broyard
Gates also talks about how the OJ Simpson trial shaped a new race dynamic in this country. When reading these stories, all I can think about is the pride I feel for the different layers of our community. It also shows the complexity of our identity and the struggle we ALL go through. Anatole Broyard, was probably the most complex of the stories. He passed for most if not all of his life, not really able to embrace his Blackness, or in my opinion truly be comfortable in his own skin. I think for a long time we were taught that Black wasn't beautiful, that we weren't worthy of just being happy with who we are-- some how we have to stop the cycle of self-hatred.
If anything that I take away from this book, is that our Blackness comes in many flavors, in many forms. Each one another brilliant piece to who we are. Yes there are ugly sides of our identity, there are ugly sides of every one's identity, but we can't run from them, we have to do better to improve upon them. We can't continue to kill each other, to get locked up, to remain ignorant, to cut each other down when we make it. And in my opinion whether we think we owe anybody or not, until we are truly equal, it is our responsibility to help the next person and continue to support our community for the better.
So here's my beef. Recently Cornel West (an amazing mind) called out Barack Obama on many different points.

It's not that I expect everyone to be fully supportive of everything that every Black man or woman does, but I don't think we do each other any justice by calling out our authenticity. West said in an interview that "Obama is a white man in Black skin." What does that do for the young Black man who looks up to President Obama to hear him called out not only for his policies but for his authenticity within the Black community? White America doesn't risk being charged with being inauthentic, so why do we do it to ourselves. Why can't we value all the different layers and characteristics of the overall Black identity? Is it not okay to embrace all of who we are? Shouldn't we be proud of our Civil Rights Heritage AND our modern progress. Because it seems that while there are many external factors that hold us back, we are our own worst enemy.
I encourage you all to read "13 Ways of Looking at a Black Man," let me know if you see it as more of an analysis of who the Black male truly is, or is it that each of these men represent many men and not the different aspects of one man?
---that's all she wrote.

Friday, May 13, 2011

What is Black Enough?

When I was a kid I grew up in a predominately white suburban town; Athens, Ohio where the majority of the color came primarily from the college kids that frequented our little city. I didn’t think I was “different” from other Black people, because all I knew was my friends. I don’t even think color really mattered to me, until I moved out of my bubble and got some exposure. I mean, I am blessed everyday for the life that I was born into and the life that I lead, I take pride in the woman I have become and it is all I can do but want to scream when I hear of the stories of us, BLACK PEOPLE breaking each other down. But back to the basics, I didn’t think I was “different” until I moved (forced) to California. My friends, again primarily all white, would make comments like “ You don’t really sound Black,” or “ Keesha, let’s be real, I am Blacker than you.” What does that mean? What makes someone Blacker than someone else. And more importantly where the hell do y’all get that from? HELLO in this country BLACK, is BLACK, is BLACK, is BLACK. Your problems no matter where you are at are still OUR problems. So it frustrates me to think that we still played this fractured game of identity. We are, who we are. To all those who doubt me: MY BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!! I may not talk like the next Black person, and why would you expect me to? Individuals are individuals, no one person is identical. I don’t “act” like a Black person- or so I have been told.. What’s acting, this right here, IT IS CALLED LIVING!! Damnit, I live Black every day, when eyes are on me questioning my worth, that is BLACK! I do not play the race card because I have a faith in the world that we are better than that, but I am not naïve to think that I have it good. WE as a country, as a world and as one human race have a lot to learn, about ourselves, others and our own culture.
So you might be wondering where is this coming from. My issue is when Black people knit pick against other Black people. It in my opinion continues to show the ignorance of our people. We as a people, across the globe have suffered the most atrocious, disgusting things possible and the only people that get it are the same ones that are dishing shit against each other. Lesson 1: In the U.S there is in my opinion this fractionalization [Yeah I made that one up] between Black Americans and Black everyone else. If you come from Africa ( South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya etc) there is this stigma, or can be that you are better than the Black Americans in this country, because the image that is portrayed of us in some countries is not the best image (but it is an image that we still need to embrace because it IS us). So when some Africans arrive, they put themselves outside of the Black American population, only to realize that it doesn’t matter here, you are BLACK as I am BLACK and you have to deal with all that that entails. There is still however a superiority factor despite this awareness, Caribbean folk at the top, African, and then Black Americans (or at least how I have come to see it). Why do we put each other in a hierarchy when I guess to take from the Pan-African viewpoint, we are all one?
Lesson 2: We Black American dish so much crap onto each other, flexin how Black we are compared to another person. And this is the root of my blog today. I have been following Twitter and the news lately (ha that sounded funny, I mean I follow both sources quite frequently) to find this “battle” perpetuated by boxer Bernard Hopkins against Donovan McNabb. Hopkins a loyal Philly Eagles fan has apparently had beef with McNabb for years, calling him an athlete with no heart. I don’t think I mind Hopkins dissing McNabb’s athletic prowess. But I do have to say, McNabb is no longer with the Eagles, so Hopkins—Get over it.. Just saying. But my contention is that Hopkins goes on to say that McNabb isn’t Black enough! WTF!!! What does Black enough mean? This is in the shadow of a Jalen Rose controversy against Grant Hill years ago during the Fab Five fiasco, where Jalen questioned Grant Hill’s upbringing. We are who we are, we have our stories but we are just a different page of Black. It doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. We are still the same people, in the streets or in the office building we still have to overcome a lot of shit and it frustrates me to no end that we can’t seem to see that. And that a man like Bernard Hopkins, Jalen Rose in his own ignorance, and even Jesse Jackson among the other who criticize men like Donovan McNabb, Grant Hill and Barack Obama because of the ingenuity of their parents to WANT and EARN a better life for their kids. I think we (BLACK PEOPLE) should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing this type of belief to persist against us. We already have to face the world and when we add the addition of facing each other, well dang, we are nowhere near overcoming our mistakes, that’s for sure. Instead we are buying into the self-hatred that we learned from years of other people’s ideas about us.
If you could take one thing away from what I am saying to you right now, if anything please, please, please teach our young to be proud of our BLACKNESS. Take pride in all the shades and beautiful displays that we show every day as we express ourselves and the beauty that is our shared heritage and culture. I was watching a show the other day on MTV- True Life, I think the topic was on “passing.” This young girl was mixed (Black and white) she didn’t know her father and she didn’t feel like she associated with the Black in her so she would go to school and tell people she was Costa Rican or something to that effect. We should be proud of where we come from and not to take away from that girl’s story, but I am proud of what my Blackness means, for me. I don’t think that there is one or will ever be one definition of Blackness because there is no one definition or man, woman, child, human etc. We are all a multitude of culture, of creativity and of love. We need to appreciate our differences because it makes us a more valued people. #PGS!
-That’s all she wrote :)

Addendum (12.13.2012):
  Other figures not mentioned in this blog whose Blackness has been questioned by some of the communities most prominent voices- President Barack Obama by Cornel West

And recently, which sparked me reposting this blog through my media outlets: RGIII was called a #Cornball because his fiance is white, and he may or may not be a Republican- UM WHO CARES!